When I resumed my blogs in November, I got all excited and really expected to just take off at full speed. But it’s not turning out like that.
I tried blaming it on my lazy, idle pony who didn’t want to get up and get going again. It’s a fun metaphor, but we’re into January now, and I’m beginning to think the problem is not my pony …
Then I blamed it on the holidays, because the Christmas holidays last almost two solid months, starting with Thanksgiving and running through New Year’s, plus all the decorating and the more-often-than-usual get-togethers with friends, family and church events and all the extra chores those entail. So whatever form of normal routine I ever have is virtually non-existent during the Christmas season. I can usually adjust to brief disruptions in my routine, but I don’t do so well over a couple of months.
When the flu showed up Christmas Eve and put me totally out of commission for a good 5-6 days, well, that was just the cherry on top!
So I just gave up. I figured that if I can’t get past the writer’s block and my brain won’t focus and I can’t seem to get back into a good schedule and I still have to write blogs anyhow, then I might as well write about all this trouble I’m in.
I hope it hasn’t bored readers to death listening to me grumble because I can’t get my act together, but mostly I hope it finds the one or two out there who might be struggling like this, too, and maybe it will be encouraging for them to know others struggle as well.
In the December blogs I wrote about the invisible world and the spiritual battle that rages all around us. This is what that battle can look like up close on an individual level, and a war is won or lost by killing one soldier at a time.
This world is doomed for destruction, and as world citizens, we’ll suffer the same fate unless we change our citizenship to being a citizen of God’s kingdom by believing, accepting and following His Son, Jesus Christ. When you submit yourself to the lordship of Christ, He begins the “sanctification” process of cleaning you up. This relationship with Him is compared with marriage, where a person vows to forsake all others in order to be in an exclusive relationship with their beloved. Just like your spouse won’t tolerate sharing you with someone else, Christ will not tolerate anything or anyone coming between you and Him. We have to give up our worldly ways and pursue His ways, which is why so many people reject Him, because they aren’t willing to lose something or someone that is valuable and meaningful to them. It takes the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to them about what they are really gaining or losing.
But we’re so messed up, we can’t even clean ourselves up and be fit for a relationship with Him. So He does it for us! Sometimes the process can be uncomfortable or even painful.
Sometimes we struggle because we’re doing things right … in recent blogs, I’ve talked a lot about God, and I’m pretty sure the enemy would prefer I didn’t do that!
Sometimes we struggle because we’ve inadvertently neglected our relationship with our Savior … I have to admit that I have neglected my private times with Him lately. No wonder I’m feeling distant from Him and out of sync when trying to do creative work … work He designed me to do, but not without Him. We’re like kids sometimes, running out ahead of Dad and making trouble for ourselves.
Sometimes we struggle because we have unconfessed sin in our heart that we either don’t see it or won’t acknowledge it. We might be harboring unforgiveness or resentment in our heart toward someone. Maybe we’ve hurt someone and we’re the ones who need to ask forgiveness. That’s another reason to not neglect spending time staying close to Him. He will make us aware of things we need to attend to, and even gives us direction and strength to work through them.
Sometimes we struggle because we’re simply not disciplined and we’re paying a price for not getting chores done, or we haven’t been obedient when we’ve felt that familiar nudge when He’s trying to get us to do something. It’s a lot more fun to try and blame our troubles on some evil, powerful entity, rather than just admit we were lazy and disobedient!
This hard time I’m going through will pass. If I did it to myself, or if it’s simply a trial I must endure, with God’s help I’ll get through it and come out better on the other side. He works all things out for my good. My mom and I had this conversation many times. She missed my dad so much. You can’t be married for over 70 years and not be devastated when you lose your spouse. But he’s safe with God, and we’ll see him again someday. These painful parts of life are temporary. The better, happier times that come later will be permanent!